Returned goods can actually help you retain your customers

Research by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) reveals that almost two-thirds of shoppers are less likely to return goods bought online than in store due to uncertainty over their consumer rights.

Furthermore, according to the Government's Business Department, Briton's waste on average £5,000 buying goods but never return them to the store when they turn out to be faulty.

"Brand advocacy and reputation can be easily damaged when customers end up with faulty or unwanted items yet this is actually an opportunity retailers can use to help build brand loyalty and customer retention," said Simon Boydell, marketing manager for Retail Eyes. "While it may seem the fault of the customer for not returning the item, there is a responsibility on the retailer to ensure their returns process is quick, easy and puts the customer at ease. If not, customers will be left with a negative experience of your company and product, which they could then pass on to friends and families. 

"Many customers don't return items because they are too embarrassed to do so or because they are unsure of how to go about it.  Whether you're online or in-store, it's vital to have a returns policy and process that is quick and easy, and requires little fuss or draws attention to the customer. Staff must also be friendly, approachable and understanding."

Understanding your returns process from the customers' perspective is essential and businesses must be proactive with this aspect of a customers' experience. Regularly capturing customer feedback through Mystery shopping and customer satisfaction survey programmes is essential to help identify areas that are working well or need improving. Without this information, you'll never know the areas that are failing with your product or service to be able to rectify any bad customer relations and help with brand damage limitation.